The GOLD PRICE was ground down in early NY trading, went sideways most of the day, then closed Comex down $1.40 at $1,311.00 Silver lost 2/10 cent to 1961.5c.

In the aftermarket the GOLD PRICE is trading now at $1,304.50 and the SILVER PRICE at 1957, having dropped in the aftermarket. You can say that looks weak, but as long as gold holds on above $1,300, I'm not vexed. Imagine how many smart fellows, still covered with the blood of the last few months, are waiting at $1,325, $1,330 etc. to short gold. Whatever you see, it's doing it against that hostile background.

I think the gold price might be fooling everybody. If it holds above that $1,300 tomorrow, it will fool 'em.

I badly misspoke myself yesterday, leaving a false impression. My wife does not "do stuff behind my back." She's the least sneaky person in the world. Rather, she does things without my knowledge, because she has her duties and I have mine, and I don't tell her how to do hers anymore than she tells me how to do mine.

Her thriftiness led her to the Amazon Prime subscription: free shipping. And besides, we live so far out we have to shop by internet. By such trifles are we all heedlessly ensnared.

No more than my wife do I ponder beforehand what it means to build up one company as the centralized source of everything. Centralization leads to fragility and Instability and makes inevitable catastrophic collapse when the center fails. Decentralization leads to strength, because if one source fails, another is ready to replace it. Stability -- not to mention delight -- lies in competition and diversity.

But the greater problem with Wal-Mart and Amazon centralization is what it does to local communities: it destroys them. Local businesses are driven out. We forget that we cannot prosper ourselves unless we seek our neighbor's prosperity, too.

It turns out, the bottom line isn't the bottom line, unless you are content to live in a world without love.

And, I left the wrong impression by saying that the movie Idiocracy is the most accurate prophecy of America's future. It's possible, but I don't believe that. Rather, my hope and the focus of my work is the rebuilding after the present system collapses. The financial and economic system is already collapsing, although slowly. What are we building, right now, to replace it? Not by changing Washington or Wall Street, but by changing ourselves and our own communities. By living not in greed, but in love -- not the sappy affection most people mean by "love," but doing justice and kindness toward our neighbors, even economically.

For that re-building that I urge people to buy gold and silver, so that on the other side of the present system's destruction, they will have capital to re-build.

TODAY'S MARKETS

The jubilatin' became jinral today as the Dow Industrials, the Dow Transports, and the S&P500 all made new highs. Dow theory says that the two indices must confirm each other in an uptrend, and that happened today,. The casino is getting HOT!

Metals were weak today while stocks waxed mighty, but it changed the Dow in Metals only slightly. Dow in Gold rose 0.94% to 11.921 oz (G$246.42), up to the 20 DMA, but still below the triangle breakdown. Dow in silver (DiSoz) closed 796.74 oz, up 0.84%. It's a bit complicated to explain, but the DiSoz broke down in late July out of an even-sided triangle. However, now it seems I ought to re-draw that triangle to include the 22 July low, so we have a long flat-bottomed triangle that is still developing.

The Euro central bank left everything unchanged today when its Idiocrats made their announcements. Traders dumped euros and ran for dollars as the interest rate in dollars jumped up 5%. And contrary to Comrade Draghi's wishes, Euro interest rates rose, too. US dollar index rose a generous 68 basis points (0.87%) and crossed above the Across the Atlantic gravity caught up with the euro and dragged it down 0.68% to $1.3212. I'm out of metaphors when it comes to the yen, which fell like a lump in a churn, 1.61% to 100.54. In the stable of spavined, broken down nags that is the world of fiat currencies, the dollar can limp the fastest.

To avoid confusion, please remember that the comments above have a very short time horizon. Always invest with the primary trend. Gold's primary trend is up, targeting at least $3,130.00; silver's primary is up targeting 16:1 gold/silver ratio or $195.66; stocks' primary trend is down, targeting Dow under 2,900 and worth only one ounce of gold; US$ or US$-denominated assets, primary trend down; real estate bubble has burst, primary trend down.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER. Be advised and warned:

Do NOT use these commentaries to trade futures contracts. I don't intend them for that or write them with that short term trading outlook. I write them for long-term investors in physical metals. Take them as entertainment, but not as a timing service for futures.

NOR do I recommend investing in gold or silver Exchange Trade Funds (ETFs). Those are NOT physical metal and I fear one day one or another may go up in smoke. Unless you can breathe smoke, stay away. Call me paranoid, but the surviving rabbit is wary of traps.

NOR do I recommend trading futures options or other leveraged paper gold and silver products. These are not for the inexperienced.

NOR do I recommend buying gold and silver on margin or with debt.

What DO I recommend? Physical gold and silver coins and bars in your own hands.

One final warning: NEVER insert a 747 Jumbo Jet up your nose. No, I don't.